Beneath the Surface - Revised Edition 2.02 (with Supplements)

The fate of Velen’s Reach is in your hands!

Located in the south of the Sword Coast, a small town was built to serve as a research outpost in order to procure and analyze the rumored magical artifacts buried in the numerous islands in the Nelanther Isles. However, in the town of Velen’s Reach, nothing is as it seems. Between rumors of corruption within the council, sightings of strange creatures on the islands nearby, secret dealings of the town’s head researcher and the growing disapproval of the town against the council, the town is in dire need of heroes. Will your party be the ones to save the town from the brutal status quo or will you exploit it for your own gain? Will you discover the mysteries of these lands, or will you take your due payment and leave the town to its fate? Destiny is in your hands. The only question is: how far will you go to see what lies -- Beneath the Surface?

FEATURES:

Jump straight into the epic! An introductory module specifically designed for new DMs and players new to the game. No resources are needed for this module, the whole module can be run with just the Basic Rules for D&D 5e available for free! Everything you need is included in the module, all you need is your dice!

Tons to explore. Dozens of maps drawn from scratch, in high resolution to give you a detailed look of the areas your party will explore.

Unique in every way. Every NPC, monster, magical item and trap is custom-made as well as having unique custom abilities and powers in order to give the module that ‘unique’ feel.

A ‘contained’ sandbox. This module is written in order to give great flexibility to the actions of the players.

The Gods are watching! This module does its best to represent several deities and tries to cater to every alignment and class. Every race is represented in at least one or more NPCs and each class has certain locations/situations in which they shine.

A great way to start you D&D adventures! This module was written mostly for the purpose of new DMs and players who want to enter the world of D&D but are not willing to make the commitment yet. It features useful tips and guidelines to help new DMs finish their first adventure and take their first steps as a DM.

Numerous plot hooks. Around the module are opportunities that the DM can use to craft his own adventures after this module iscompleted.

Printer-friendly! There is also a printer-friendly version of the module available for your RL sessions.

A lot of time, effort and love went into the making of this module, so I hope it will satisfy your RPG needs and that using it, we can bring more people into our D&D fold. The reason I made this module is because I know many friends who want to play D&D but don't want to commit the time or money to learn all the rules and/or buy all of the books. If you're a person who wants to get into DMing and have friends who want to enter the awesome world of fantasy roleplaying, but are not sure how the game works or if you don't want to make the commitment yet, then look no further! Just buy this product, learn the Basic Rules for players and DMs (available on the official D&D website for free) and start your adventure!

REVISED EDITION 2.02

Re-drawn, re-written and re-balanced! The Revised Edition 2.0 is an upgrade on the original adventure in almost every way. It tries to deliver the adventure the way it was meant to be played. If you've already purchased the adventure, it is recommended that you download this version for a proper playthrough.

ADDED FEATURES:

Now properly optimized PDF (with an optional full size version)

Re-written the weak parts of the main story

Re-balanced ALL the encounters and fixed challenge ratings for all creatures and NPCs

Added plot guidelines and useful hints for new DMs

Added useful info such as diplomacy with other towns and a lot of other useful stuff

10 new (color) maps of town locations (instead of rough black-and-white sketches), drawn from scratch

4 new color maps of areas that were previously not mapped out

Remakes of existing maps

4 new NPCs/monsters

5 new pictures (drawn from scratch) of magic items

A new, bigger boat, hidden in a new map and added a third way to get to Hurricane Island

Expanded two sparse locations with a lot more content

Tons of grammatical errors fixed and all maps now have the correct scale

Added more information to neglected factions

Expanded quests

And much more...

"A Shining Fantasy: Quest for the Orb of Power"

"A great mix of combat and conversation"

"Explore Islands, slaughter innocents and backstab some people. You know, the good stuff."

If you bought the title, I would very much appreciate it if you could write a small review down below so I can get some feedback in order to update this title and deliver more quality products in the future. Thanks!

CHECK OUT MY OTHER STUFF!

VERSION HISTORY:

1.0 - original version

1.10 - fixed some grammatical errors and weird/wrong descriptions

1.11 - changed the area map for Velen's Reach and the Nelanther Isles, added bookmarks for Appendix 2, added credits, some minor fixes

1.12 - added printer-friendly version and added some missing info to certain locations

I playtested this adventure, and the author asked me to post my experiences.

I had a good time with our adventure in and around Velen’s Reach, the story was pretty straight forward, but had that aura of mystery about it, as well as a lot of versatility in how the ending could play out. I never felt like we didn’t have places to go, or that we were railroaded into something.

The NPCs were memorable, and had interesting side quests linked to them, but the strongest part of this adventure I’d say was the exploration, travelling to the various islands, and discovering what was on each of them was the part that I most enjoyed about this adventure.

I hope your project sell good, and thanks for an enjoyable game.

Captain JFebruary 21, 2017 12:23 pm UTC

PURCHASER

I too was a playtester for this module, and it was very good! I liked the open world style, and the NPC's were awesome! I'd definitely recommend giving the module a look!

Also 10/10 would bull rush [SPOILER REDACTED] again

teos TFebruary 20, 2017 10:24 am UTC

Played as "Test Player", and trust me, it was a lot of fun.
The maps are beautiful and the world really feels alive with all the different and charismatic npcs.
I really felt that our decisions made a difference on the course of the adventure.
It should entertain every kind of player at your table.

p.s. 10/10 would make alligator-pyjamas again!

Samuel JFebruary 20, 2017 7:15 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Also played as a test-player for this campaign.
I would certainly recommend this! There was plenty of surprises, and a lot of laughter whist playing. Solid story with great NPCs and detailed maps. It was also open enough to be able to freely explore and interact to the point where several of the offshoots could be expanded into its own campaign.

This is a great module for beginners who want to get into D&D. I've DM'd this session with my group and they loved it! Awesome NPCs, all custom made items, maps, everything! Cool story with a lot of freedom. Recommended for any beginner gro [...]

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